#PeriodPaath: Sanitary Pads Are Not Something That Should Be Encased In Black Plastic

To,

The Hon. Minister for Health and Family Welfare,
Govt. of India,
New Delhi.

Subject: Transiting Perspicacity of Indian women concerning menstruation

Dear Sir,

The aspects of Indian women regarding menstruation and its associated concerns are transiting swiftly, especially amongst teenage girls and professional women. Researches cite that more than 20% of the professional women and 18% of the adolescent girls prefer no menstrual cycle, while 60% prefer to have tunable menses.

Don’t you think the figures are pretty low? I think it is since the data frame only professional women. What we transmit out is our population of the rural and tribal women who don’t even know what a sanitary pad looks like because the solitary thing they are used to is old pieces of cloths. Moreover, the tribal community believes that menstruation is a toxic process that should occur every month to discharge the ‘evil present within them.’ The delusions are reinforced with the fact that 70% of the rural women are typical with this menstruation process transpiring every month.

A research conducted by Dr. Loudon used an 84 day routine of oral preventative pills to tune the cycle according to individual demands. The results inferred that more than 90% of the women were pleased to have an interruption in the menstrual cycle. Does the question arise why we see a marked difference between the perspectives of the two backdrops-rural and urban? Significant anxiety that operates amongst urban women with menstruation is pregnancy.  Our metropolitan society is designed in such a way to stimulate a woman to psychological distress in due course of the absence of the menstrual cycle. We do not try to investigate the physiological parameters that are being disregarded, resulting in the absence of menstruation. The only thing that urban society is integrated with is linked to pregnancy. The scenario drastically changes in the rural setback, where no one cares about a women’s health and hygiene if she misses the ovulation period. Whether it be pregnancy or ovarian cancer, people tend to neglect the above traits, which unfortunately jeopardizes the lives, several tribal women.

The technology breathes that allows for occasional or no menstruation. Injectable hormonal contraceptives and oral contraceptive pills took over more extended periods can lead to infrequent or no menses. Once again, our society thinks using these shall maltreat the dignity of the tradition. The same assertion goes when we to buy a contraceptive device. Did you ever see people saying to the cashier, “Please give me a contraceptive device” in the same pitch as they say, “please give me paracetamol”? No, we feel it will make people assess us.  The predicament is we do see those ‘lovely’ advertisements of contraceptive devices when it flashes in our television, but can’t spell those in a medicine shop. Tampons and sanitary pads belong to the corresponding category where still now, the shopkeepers clothe these in a black and opaque plastic bag to make it invisible to the public. Why? Is it something terrible or a stolen product? Or is it something that shall pollute our atmosphere? When none of the reasons shall seem correct, it is evident that the exact cause is “WE.”

I urge the administration to look deeper into these dynamic perceptions of women regarding menstruation with the supplements provided by proper counseling. We all must apprehend that science has evolved over centuries to offer preference to the women on whether they shall menstruate or not. The monthly ovulation process is a choice and not a profanity.

The indices of the perception at a glance

Regards,

Sayan Basak

P.S- I had a friend who plunged into a critical depression because of cultural shocks on missing an ovulation cycle.  Unfortunately, She was not pregnant but was diagnosed with the polycystic ovary, but our aristocracy made its architecture in a way to bracket my friend as the culprit.